


Breaking the Horse

by amhrancas



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Kanjani8 (Band), NewS (Band)
Genre: Darkfic, Gen, old fic is old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-18
Updated: 2010-10-18
Packaged: 2018-10-16 05:51:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10564920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amhrancas/pseuds/amhrancas
Summary: Shige remembered reading something about this back during his early university days, some “Serpent and the Rainbow” bullshit that he’d had to review in a pre-req. Now he was beginning to wonder how much of it really was bullshit…





	

**Author's Note:**

> Exchange fic written for the 2010 cycle of je_squickfic. HUGE thanks also going out to beltenebra for beta-ing this for me, and to the taco-tachi for answering whatever random JE questions I threw at them. *smooshes*
> 
> Additional warnings: character deaths, violence, mindfuck, and a bastardization of Voodoo all of my own making, jargon.

  
_The person who fears that the Devil is near him, suddenly starts to feel with absolute certainty that the Devil is actually in him, and possessing him." [Sargant, W. 1973. The Mind Possessed: A Physiology of Possession, Mysticism and Faith Healing]._

 

Kato Shigeaki’s feet were killing him.

After a full day of PR events, photo shoots, stopping by the Wink-up offices to go over the latest PhotoShiGenic layouts _–mental note: still need to submit Aoi to Myojo-_ , and culminating in a group meeting with management back at the Agency—all that Shige wanted more than anything in the world was to get out of these oxfords which had clearly not been broken-in enough before today, and into the Chucks he had stashed in his bag back in the Jimusho locker room.

“Hey, Shige! A bunch of us are heading out for karaoke now, you’re still coming, right? Did you want to catch a ride over with me?” Tegoshi’s excited voice cut through Shige’s mental lamentations over his footwear choices for the day, and he could really only be amazed at the level of energy radiating out from his group mate after what surely had been just as hectic a day as his own.

“Yeah, I am. I’ll head over there in a little bit, though. I still have to take care of some stuff in the back.”

“You sure?” Tegoshi paused to eye him suspiciously; one perfectly arched eyebrow peaking higher than the other. “You better not flake out on us this time. Everyone’s coming you know…”

Shige could hear the pout working its way up through his words a good 10 seconds before it actually hit his face. Finding the nuances of their youngest member’s personal brand of emotional blackmail amusing to no end, it was all he could do to not burst out laughing right then.

“Yes, yes, I’m going. I promise—“

“Alright! I’ll see you there then!” Tegoshi called out, cutting Shige off while already halfway out the door. “Oh! And Massu said he was heading back there, too. Do me a favor and remind him. Better yet—just bring him with you.”

“Ok, ok!” Shige called back over his shoulder to an already empty hallway and laughing to himself, made his way back to the locker room. Much as he would have liked to ride over with the others, there were more important matters on his plate. After all, new shoes were new shoes, and his feet were killing him.

~~~

The locker room was empty when he arrived there, however the tell-tale signs of bags, jackets, and shoes still scattered around told Shige that he wasn’t likely to be its last inhabitant for the night. He made his way over to the locker he had stashed his bag in, allowing himself the indulgence of a limp in the privacy the room offered. As he spotted the only locker in the room which was actually locked he knew that he hadn’t missed Massu yet, and would have a few minutes before the more eccentric member of NEWS arrived. Shuffling over to a couch he collapsed in an exhausted heap and toed his shoes off, granting his abused feet a chance to breathe as he leaned back on the couch to wallow in these few minutes of downtime. Promotions for the new single were moving along briskly and, taking advantage of the moment to bask in the rush of success from their tour, Shige had to admit that it felt great to be active as NEWS again, sore feet and all. Sometimes it seemed more like a case of feast or famine when it came to their workload; and while it was nice to a degree having an abundance of time to devote to his photography and writing, Shige much preferred the days with fuller schedules, even if it meant his personal movie-viewing quotas were left unfulfilled. Plus there was the added fact that spending more time around the Jimusho meant he had more opportunities to meet up with other group members who he hadn’t had the opportunity to see in a while, like Yasu and Maru the other day.

Casting his eyes back over towards the locked locker Shige could only chuckle a bit ruefully to himself, as he remembered this stimulus for Massu’s latest outbreak in obsessive control over his belongings. The Kanjani guys were in for a meeting discussing the shift to Golden time for _Ariehen_ , Hina was off getting something to drink… or on a phone call… something like that, before the meeting started, point being—Maru didn’t remember, but he was “likely to be back in a little bit.” He and Maru had chatted about the latest movie Shige had borrowed from him, while Yasu wandered around the room fiddling with random things and chiming into the conversation every once in a while.

“Hey- guys! There you are! Come on, we’re gonna be late!” Hina stuck his head in the room and hollered at his band-mates, causing Maru to jump and Yasu to drop the brush he’d been messing with, causing it to clatter onto the counter.

“Sorry, Shige! I’ll talk to you later!” Maru called back as he and Yasu dodged around a returning Massu. “Hi, Massu! Bye, Massu!”

“Bye, Maru.” A slightly confused Massu replied to the retreating mass of Kansaijin as they ran down the hall for their meeting.

“Uh, Shige?” Massu hesitantly asked while picking up the hairbrush Yasu had dropped in his hasty exit.

“Hmm?”

“Did Yasu just, use my hairbrush?”

“Umm, possibly?” Shige lamely offered with a half-shrug. “Honestly, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“And you didn’t stop him?” A mildly desperate edge steadily rose through the statement, as if asking why Shige hadn’t stopped Yasu from murdering his nonexistent pet dog, the expression on his face mirroring the sentiment to a T. Shige could only sheepishly look at him, and apologize once more, knowing full well how OCD Massu could be about his belongings. Since that day Massu had gotten into the habit of actually locking up his stuff whenever it was going to wind up unattended.

The sound of footsteps and voices in the corridor alerted Shige to the approaching end to his solitude, and with a sigh he straightened back up to fish his sneakers out of the bag. A few seconds later Massu came into the room, chatting amicably with Uchi who was also wrapping up a late day in the building.  
Uchi lit up at the site of Shige, and quickly made his way over to the couch, grabbing his jacket from a chair on the way. “Hey, Gorilla. Long time no see, how’s it going?”

Shige laughed at the use of his old nickname, falling right back into pattern with his response. “Can’t complain, Shakure, how about you? Still half-dead from SHOCK? ‘Cause you certainly look like it.” Uchi just laughed at that, rolling his eyes a little at the implications behind the notoriously tiresome stage show.

“I seriously don’t know how Koichi does it every year. I think I lost 5kilos at least doing that run.”

“Hey Massu, Tegoshi wants me to remind you that you’re going to karaoke tonight,” Shige called out to him as he made his way over to the locker and pulled his stuff out of it. Shige observed with amused curiosity the way Massu inspected every item in his bag, making sure everything was as it should be, before looking up to reply to him.

“Mmm, Uchi and I were just talking about that, you’re coming too, right Shige?”

Shige glanced over at Uchi a little surprised, “Are you heading over to the karaoke thing, too?”

“Yeah, want to come with? I’m parked around back.”

He hadn’t had the opportunity to spend much time with the younger man outside of Countdown events since their days before his removal from NEWS, and the thought of being able to catch up a little more on the way to the karaoke bar was a nice one.

“Sure, that’d be cool.” Shige offered, genuinely meaning it. “You coming with us, Massu?”

“Yeah, I think I will,” Massu replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder and following the other two out the door.

The three men made their way out to the back of the building, joking about coworkers and ever-shifting schedules. As they reached the elevator Shige realized that his jacket was still back in the locker room.

“Ah, don’t worry, I’ll go grab it for you, the brown one on the couch, right?” Massu offered.

“Oh, no, I can get it…” Shige started, but Massu was already down the hall shouting that he’d meet them in the parking lot. Uchi laughed at the flabbergasted look on Shige’s face, and steering him towards the now open elevator doors laughingly mumbled something about Massu still being the same Massu.

“Yeah,” Shige agreed a little hesitantly at first, then laughing a bit himself, “He’s still the same, although he’s finally starting to get a little adventurous, at least with his hair.”

“Oh! I saw that! The red at the Osaka concerts!! It was pretty awesome!! And the part in the bangs in the photobook, I didn’t even realize he had a forehead before.” They both laughed at the perceived shift in Massu’s personality over the past year, heading out the back exit to the alley connected to the parking garage.

“Hey, are you gonna make it to any of the Kanjani shows while they’re in Tokyo? I’m hoping to hit the one on…” Shige looked up at Uchi in curiosity at the sudden halt in his words, only to see the younger man reaching up to his throat as a thin red line suddenly blossomed across his neck, first seeping, and then spurting blood across the muck-stained pavement of the alleyway. A lithe figure swathed in black seemed to dart back into the shadows even faster than it had emerged from them.

Shige froze, words trapped in his mouth, as Uchi slumped in a heap beside him. Eyes still open, staring blankly at the world which remained around him, the echo of his last words still resonating in the alley as he gaspingly sucked in breath after breath, each pulse seeping more blood out through the gash in his neck. It was as if some outside power had simply flipped off the switch to Shige’s body. Unable to move, unable to speak, to breathe; frozen to the pavement as if the very grime coating it had crawled up his legs, clutching him and pulling him into the ground itself.

_What the fuck…what the fuck… what the fuck_

For what seemed an eternity he could only stare at Uchi, watching the blood pulse from his friend’s neck, seeping into the fabric of his t-shirt, dying the once vibrant yellow a sickening shade of brown. An emboldened rat pushed his way around the bags of trash, first sniffing at his leg, then moving down to his shoe.

_What the fuck… what the fuck…_

“WHAT THE FUCK??!!?” The switch was suddenly flipped back on. Shige snapped his head up as the words found their release, searching through the dark alley for a source or a reason, eyes landing on 3 shadows lurking along the edges of the alleyway as he dropped to his knees clasping his hands in vain over the wound in Uchi’s neck as if he actually stood a chance to save him. “Who the fuck are you??”

The door behind him swung open suddenly. “Oh, Hey Shige!... what… Uchi?” Massu’s words dropped into nothingness as he quickly took in his surroundings, eyes riveted to the sight of Uchi’s blood seeping past Shige’s hands, staining them dark in the half-light of the alley. The shorter of the three shadows moved out into the light and Massu caught a flash of hot pink stars against a field of vibrant orange – pants he’d considered buying himself not even a week ago—as one leg moved outside the shelter of the long black robe he was wearing. Massu’s eyes followed the leg up to the face of its owner as it moved into the light, and he heard Shige’s frantic breath halt as they both watched Yasu cock his head playfully to the side, raising one finger to his lips as he spoke something reminiscent of French and yet not. Yasu then whispered a teasing “shhhhhh” and with a snap of his fingers everything went black. Massu and Shige’s unconscious forms slumping to the pavement next to Uchi’s body.

~~~

Shige woke to the raging sensation of molten sulfur in his lungs. A suffocating burning that he couldn’t hack out no matter how hard he tried. He was so hot, his body temperature steadily climbing higher and higher as the sweat pouring off of him hissed and sizzled on his skin, each drop searing his nerves like the steam explosion that it was. That very same skin was starting to pucker and rise all over Shige, little blisters of heat rising and falling like rolling air bubbles in a pot of boiling water, only here there was no release for the heat, no way for it to break the surface of the water and release its heat, only a continuous rising pressure in his body. Everything around him crackled and roared with blazing heat, the ground itself felt like a bed of coals, flames licking up randomly through them in places to lash at hair and skin, teasing out empty screams of pain, no sound making it past Shige’s fire-scorched throat. Shige knew he had to move, had to get away from the heat before it consumed him entirely but every time he tried to open his eyes in an attempt to navigate they seared themselves back shut, instinctively trying to protect themselves from the inferno outside. Crawling blindly across the blazing ground Shige was able to gather only glimpses of his surroundings. The whole world looked as though hell had been split apart on it, everything swathed in violent shades of crimson and orange and the landscape was smoldering and heaving sporadically as if in a dream.

The combined internal and external heat was rapidly becoming too much for him, the muscles and tendons in his limbs beginning to tighten and contract and Shige had to fight his own limbs as they pulled upward and in towards his torso, finally rendering him unable to crawl further. Around him the shrieking roar of the inferno continued to rise in volume until it had completely consumed any other existing sound. Shige lay on the ground, hands smashed against his burning ears in a vain attempt to both drown out the deafening noise and balance the explosive pressure pulsing against his eardrums from inside his head. Tears streamed traitorously down his cheeks, sizzling and popping as they evaporated on his skin. It was too much. In a panicked rush driven by his surmounting hysteria Shige began to claw at his skin in an attempt release the never-ending boiling pressure. Finally, the rolling blisters began to burst, steam shooting out of them as the jagged scraps of flesh covering his arms began to contract all the more and curl up in the heat. Shige could feel the shift inside his body, pressure abating in exchange for a tightening and overall contraction of his muscle, and couldn’t help but to call up the image of a fillet cooking on top of the stove in his head, the aroma rising from his singed flesh paralleling this image in a manner he found disturbing in a whole new way.

The ground began to heave again, spewing chunks of molten rock into the air above Shige. As he struggled to roll his body away from the trajectory of the now descending rock Shige noticed an expanding patch of calm behind him. It was as if a sinkhole was unfolding into the chaos and stretching out towards the opposite horizon, a tantalizing cool breeze wafting up from deep inside it. Inching his way towards it Shige peered down over the ledge.

~~~

Massu was in bed. Not just any bed, but _his_ bed, in _his_ room. He stared up at the ceiling, the same ceiling he had looked at every other night spent in that room, reflecting on the hellish dream he had stumbled into while he had been asleep. Of course, he couldn’t actually recall falling asleep, but most likely that was due to the immensely realistic tone the nightmare had taken. In fact, if he really thought about it, the nightmare had shaken him more than any other he could remember. On that note, Massu decided that perhaps a cup of tea would be a welcome intrusion into his respite and moved to get up and off of the mattress.

Only he didn’t.

“What?” Massu spoke out loud, stunned at his complete inability to move his limbs. Was he paralyzed? How had this happened? He could feel his forehead creasing in concentration and knew that at least his face was still under his own control; a quick turn of his head confirmed that at least from the neck up everything seemed to be fine. Next he addressed the question of whether he was paralyzed or not. As he could still feel the air circulating into his room through the window blowing on his arms and shins, he deduced that he was not. Staring fixedly at his right hand, Massu tried willing it to move with every millimeter of efferent nerve fiber in his body.

“You know, you’re likely to pop a blood vessel concentrating like that, Massu.”

If he had been capable of it at that moment, Massu would have jumped high enough off the bed to hit hit head on the ceiling. As it was, he yelped and snapped his head around to his right to see who it was that had suddenly appeared in his room. Yasuda Shota, sans black robe this time, was seated at his desk and staring back at Massu with an amused expression plastered across his face.

_Yasuda._

It hadn’t been a dream. Instantly every nerve in Massu’s body (the ones which were cooperating, at least) was on alert as he fixed his glare on Yasu.

“What did you do to us earlier, Yasu? What are you up to?”

“Mmm?” Yasu appeared to contemplate Massu’s questions for a second. But then he stood up from his chair and began wandering through Massu’s room, poking curiously into drawers and storage bins. “I suppose you call it research for the sake of science.”

Whatever answer Massu had been expecting, that had definitely not been it. “Science?” he sputtered at the shorter man, “Are you insane?? Science?!! How is killing Uchi Science? Wasn’t he your friend? And where’s Shige?? What have you done with him?”

Yasu laughed at the obvious outrage on the normally reserved man’s face. “So many questions at once, Massu. Call it a test of wills, then, if you’re so opposed to the idea of calling it science. As for Uchi? What happened to Uchi was… unfortunate. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s ok though, we needed another _gro bonanj_ for the collection, and his will certainly come in handy. So there is that I suppose.”

Massu could only blink at Yasu in baffled horror. “Grow what? And what did you say earlier in the alley? Something about Disney? And what’s this ‘test of wills’ crap you’re talking about?”

“ _Gro bonanj_ , Massu. It’s the primary spirit in a person. When someone dies it is released form their body, where it can then be collected for later. _Desounen_ is the ritual of sending a collected spirit under the waters until the time when you want call it back for work. As for the test of wills,” Yasu turned and fixed his gaze on Massu a flash of seriousness in his eyes. “Kalfu wanted me to find out which of his favorite _chwal_ would break first; you, or Shige”

" _Chwal?_ " Massu asked quietly, the gravity of Yasu’s words settling on him.

“It means ‘horse’.”

“And how are we supposed to be broken?”

A flash of excitement crossed Yasu’s face as he straightened back up and turned to pick up a small carved teak box. “I’m so glad you finally asked.” His confession laced with a hint of sadistic malice. Setting the box down on a shelf in the opposite corner of the room form Massu he carefully lifted the lid off of the box and set it to the side. “I’ll be heading out now. As much as I would love to stay, Kalfu doesn’t like it when I influence his games.” With a quick pat to Massu’s shoulder Yasu grabbed his jacket from the desk chair and was gone just as quickly as he came.

Massu lay on the bed, no other course of action available to him at the moment but to try to take in and absorb all of what Yasu had just told him. Clearly he was involved in some sort of magic or spirit control, but to what end? Warily he turned his eyes back over towards the dark box sitting on the shelf, wondering what exactly it was supposed to do. He didn’t have to wait long to find out. At first Massu noticed a slight movement at the lip of the box. Something long and thin was twitching its way out of the box, quickly followed by another, and another as the emerging legs found purchase on the outside of the box quickly followed by the rest of the softball-sized spider which quickly sped across the shelf and up onto the wall. Massu felt all the blood draining out of his body, and he was completely incapable of doing anything to solve the problem. Glancing quickly back and forth between the huge spider and the box he soon quickly forgot about the spider as the box twitched once on the shelf, twice, and once more, then seemed to vomit forth an unending stream of every manner of black and glossy insect, anthropod, and arachnid known to the earth.

“Oh, Fuck.”

~~~

Everything froze around him in that instant. It was as if the universe had been paused and only Shige had been left capable of motion, well, what motion he could manage. Inside the sinkhole was a crystalline pool, stretching down and out to depths and lengths too far to trace, the planes of the water broken only by the occasional wave lapping against the frost-covered walls of the pit. Shige flicked his eyes back towards the frozen panorama of hellfire and forward again to the water, wondering whether his senses could be trusted when the urge to dive into it arose within him.  
_Probably not, idiot._ his inner logic scolded. Swimming across the glacial expanse at night would only get him deader than he likely already was. With that thought the world came roaring back to life, and roaring with a vengeance. The earth around him was still screaming, the air heavy with smoke and embers blistering what remained of his skin and raking his throat with every rasping breath. Only over the water was it calm, like glass. Taking as deep a breath as he could Shige pitched himself forward, rocking himself off the edge of the pit.

A sudden jerk on his shoulder had him howling in pain as it was yanked back towards the flames. His body was flung further away from the water and a voice was yelling near him - _at him?_ , but Shige couldn’t make out the words or face in the chaos around him. Then in an instant it was all gone. Silence dominating the air, with only the rhythmic breathing of a lake’s tide breaking through it and the wind rustling through the dense trees which were surrounding them on three sides. The other side was a sheer cliff which dropped off about 50 meters to the lake below. A rising fog was dancing across the lake, masking the moon’s reflection in its steady progression.

“Shige!!”

Shige whipped his head around to see Massu standing over by the treeline, a small broken doll clutched in his hands. He looked down at his arms and legs, spotless aside from dirt and pine needles from the ground. “What the hell, Massu? What the fuck is going on?” Shige rolled back out of his squatting position to sit down hard on the ground, eyeing the cliff and its plunge into what was no doubt certain death.

“Shige! Jesus, I thought you were going to be dead. I could hear you screaming through the woods, and all I could smell was fire and…” Massu collapsed next to Shige and embraced the dazed man in a fierce hug. “God, I thought I was too late. I almost was.”

Shige snapped out of his stupor at the contact with Massu, reaching up and clinging to his friend as his own breathing started to hitch, maintaining the contact until both of their breathing had returned to normal.

“You know,” Massu mused, “I know it sounds crazy, but I am _dying_ for a steak.”

Shige could only laugh at that, his own stomach growling at the thought. “So you were on fire, too?”

“No.” Massu softly laughed back, “But I could smell you cooking from a mile away.” At Shige’s continued curious expression Massu huffed out a ragged breath. “I got to be paralyzed in what I thought was my room but was really a spot in the forest, with 80 gallons of bugs, millipedes, and spiders. And I swear to God, the next time I see Yasu I will fucking kill him.” Shige knew from the hollow look in Massu’s eyes that it was best to not press for details about _that_ right now.

Instead, Shige pointed to the broken doll laying on the ground where Massu had dropped it. “So what the heck is that?”

Massu filled Shige in on his conversation with Yasu about the _bonanj_ and Kalfu and his _chwal_ , as well as his theories about what it might mean.

“The hairbrush! For the dolls.” Shige said after a second. “It’s Voodoo. I remember reading something about this at school. “It had been back during his early university days, some “Serpent and the Rainbow” bullshit that he’d had to review in a pre-req. Now he was beginning to wonder how much of it really was bullshit… “The weird thing about this all is that everything we read in class denounced this whole aspect of Voodoo. All the authors claimed that there was always a balance between the spirits—the more mellow and benevolent ones, and the mischievous and bawdy ones. I don’t really remember, but I think Kalfu was the head of the mischievous ones. If he is, why isn’t there some intervention by the good ones?”

“Because we have no need for the _Rada_ right now, and they have no need of us, so they let us be.” Yasu stepped out of the shadows of the forest, once again wearing a robe, this one a blood red instead of the black he had worn earlier, along with a number of amulets and medalions. He was followed by 7 or 8 more figures, all in black and carrying torches. Shige recognized Nakama and Kiriyama in the mix, and couldn’t help but bitterly wonder if one of them had been responsible for Uchi’s death. A small figure followed in behind them all. He was dressed all in black like the others, but unlike them his clothing was not a cloak but rather just regular clothes and a hooded jacket which sheltered his face from view. There was an otherworldly air to him, as though his aura existed on a plain completely separate form that of other humans.

Massu and Shige had shot up from their seated positions on the ground the second Yasu had first spoken, and were now standing shoulder to shoulder in stony and hyper-alert silence, glaring at the visiting mob. Massu was tense with fury, his hand twitching as he watched the last figure approach Yasu, lean in to whisper something to him, and then sit in a chair which had been carried in by another one of the cloaked figures. Yasu proceeded to go about setting up things for what would apparently be the night’s festivities.

Sick of waiting and allowing the stress to both eat away at his nerves and flare his temper, Shige made the first move, yelling out to the seated figure. “Oi! You! Would you mind telling me what the fuck we’re doing here for? Have you not had your fill of fun already today? And why Massu and I? Seriously, did you just wake up this morning, flip open a Wink Up and point to two people and say ‘these two’?”

“Oh come now, Shige. Kalfu’s been playing with you for years,” Yasu looked over at him, a slight air of annoyance about him –fleeting though, as it was quickly replaced with the Kansai-jin’s trademark playfulness. “Didn’t you know? Couldn’t you feel it? Or did you really just think that you were _that_ unlucky?”

Shige’s outburst, however trite Yasu played it down to be, _did_ have an impact on the dark figure, as he slowly reached up and let the heavy hood fall away from his dark, wavy hair. Both Shige and Massu inhaled a bit in disbelief. Subaru. And yet, _not_ Subaru. Everything about the man before them was different from the Kanjani frontman. Moving with a fluid languidness he looked up and turned his to Shige, the one who had called him out, and after what seemed to be an eternity to Shige he smiled a half smile that was both peaceful and sad at the same time. Shige felt the blood draining out of him, yet was unable to turn away and break eye-contact with this Kalfu. The light from the surrounding torches illuminated his pale face, black flames dancing in large black eyes. That same half-smile poised on his face, he angled his face slightly from Shige towards Yasu at his side; while at the same time maintaining the hypnotic bond of eye-contact. He raised a delicate hand and beckoned to the other man, fingers curling inward so enticingly that Shige himself could feel their pull. The younger Kansaijin approached the darker man, never breaking eye contact, as if entranced by the half-beatific half-ominous aura resonating from Subaru; those same beckoning fingers lovingly clasping Yasu’s chin and pulling his face close like a lover’s. The devil, for Shige was sure that he could be nothing other, spoke low and liltingly in a sort-of musical language that Shige could neither understand nor imagine anyone ever refusing; nuzzling against the other’s face, softly brushing his lips against his cheek. When the words had ceased he turned both his own and Yasu’s faces back towards the direction of Shige and Massu, and with one eyebrow arching in a gesture both terrifying and beautiful, spoke one more word to Yasu and released him, smile splitting open to reveal glistening teeth in a perfectly feral grin.

Shige felt the ground both dropping out from beneath him, and pulling him to it at the same time. He was unable to look away from Subaru’s eyes, unable to breathe as the cold fist of dread clutched in his stomach, everything around him seeming to disappear into the black of the surrounding woods. A sudden weight and grasping pressure on his shoulder shook him just enough to blink. His head swinging left in a reactionary impulse to see what it was. As his eyes met Massu’s the world seemed to tilt and heave, suddenly racing back into view around him. Massu shook him lightly again, “Shige!” he hissed in his low voice, narrowed eyes darting back and forth between his friend and the two on the other side of the fire. “Are you OK?”

“Ye-yeah.” Shige replied a little shakily to his friend. “Sorry, I just felt really dizzy for a second there.”

“Since you were so curious…” Yasu started out, gathering all of the attention in the small crowd, “Shall we start the explanations and games for tonight?”

~~~

With a snap of his wrists Yasu managed to bind both Shige and Massu almost instantly, and Shige found himself unable to even talk, shouting nothing but air. Massu was struggling violently against his invisible bonds to regain control over his body. Yasu came forward from his makeshift work area and playfully poked Massu in his side then patted him on the head. “Let’s be patient now, shall we?” And with that he returned to his position by Subaru.

“So. Have you two figured out the plot of tonight’s game yet?” Yasu asked almost a bit apprehensively. Shige wasn’t sure if the apprehension was for if they had or hadn’t figured out the “game”, but he was willing to bet that Yasu was hoping that they hadn’t.

“Get it over with already,” Massu snapped back, uncharacteristically curt for him.

Yasu chose to ignore him and continued on with his speech, “Today we gave you both what I like to call a test of will. The point of this was not only to figure out which of you could resist our control the most, but to also learn ways _around_ whatever defenses you built up in order to survive. The whole point of being a _chwal_ is to be a strong and capable, yes. But more importantly, it is to be and obedient and dutiful host for the entity reigning power over you. Wouldn’t you agree, Massu?” At Yasu’s last words spoken Massu suddenly crashed to his knees, his arms forcibly moved forward until he was in a penitent position. “Very well done, Massu.”

Shige had never seen Massu so angry before in the entire time they had known each other. Tears of rage were forming in the corners of his eyes as he realized that he was quite literally powerless against Yasu. Struggling against his own bonds, Shige wondered why it was only Massu being humiliated like this, keeping his eyes frantically bouncing back and forth between Massu, Yasu, and Subaru. Yasu was approaching Massu once again, this time with a narrow, rectangular box in his hands. At the same time two of the cloaked men in attendance approached Shige and stood to either side of him, seemingly awaiting further orders.

“Stand up now, Massu.” Yasu forced him up and then handed the box to Massu carefully, manipulating Massu’s arms to reach out and accept it. “Now,” Yasu started again, “this game is called ‘Breaking the Horse’, a name which often gives the impression of training and grooming. A process of fostering to fulfill a purpose or role. Massu, you may open the box now.”

As Massu’s hand removed the lid form the box he let out a strangled sob. “No. No. NO. I can’t, you can’t do this Yasu!!”

“THE POINT. Of this game, however, is _not_ to foster or nurture anything.” Yasu continued talking over Massu’s pleas. As if on cue the two men by Shige secured him by his arms and Yasu released his own control over Shige, turning to focus his attention on Massu as he ran his palm gently down the pleading man’s face. Yasu smiled softly at his captive as he continued “The point of this game, is to destroy the horse, and every sense of his being. Pick it up Massuda.”

Struggling against his own personal goon-squad, Shige fought to get closer to Massu as the man started crying openly now, still begging Yasu to stop. “Massu! Look at me! Massu it’ll be ok!!” Shige then gasped as he saw Massu haltingly pull out a pistol from the box he had been given.

An absolute look of horror splayed across Massu’s face as his very muscles waged war with his mind, fighting the control Yasu was wielding over him. Collapsing to his knees he tried to keep the gun pointed at the ground.

“Run, goddammit! Get the hell out of here, Shige!!” Tears were streaming down his face, twisting in agony at the knowledge that he was not going to be able to win this struggle.

Shige wrenched his arms free from the grasping hands of the two men holding him. Taking a step forward, agony crossing his face at the realization that he could do nothing for Massu right now, he turned and began to run for the shelter of the black woods.

It hit him like a tight pinch, a hot searing burn racing up his back and shattering through his ribs as it tore its way out of his body. The taste of hot copper filled his mouth, oddly heavy as it pressed against the back of his teeth, blood and air bubbled up through a gasp of breath, the very weight of the earth pulling him back down to it. He’d never even heard the shot fire.  
  
“Shige!! Oh, God, Shige!” Massu sputtered as he watched his friend collapse to the ground, still bound by Yasu’s control and unable to move in any direction. “Shige!!” He screamed, tears now flowing freely from his eyes and blurring his vision, his shoulders shuddering under the pressure of restrained sobs. Shige gasped on the ground, clutching his chest while trying to turn around, trying to see Massu, to let Massu know he was still alive.

“Massu, don’t… I’m still…” His voice was thin, lacking power to project across the field to where Massu was still kneeling. Shige watched as Subaru rose from his seat, moving with the languid casualness and serenity that he’d maintained all this time. He reached down to Massu, lovingly stroking his face and speaking softly with that same hauntingly musical voice, beatific eyes brimming with love in a face which could only be described as sorrowful. Shige watched in the fading light as Subaru lowered his head down to Massu’s stricken face, placing gentle kisses beneath each eye, breaking the paths of still falling tears, then moving to softly press his lips against the younger man’s bloodied and swollen lips. He then looked back at Shige, smiling that same angelic smile and fixing his gaze on Shige’s as he moved behind the still kneeling Massu, hands caressing his jawline, the side of his head, then suddenly compressing and wrenching in a violent twist to the left as Subaru snapped the man’s neck.

Shige screamed. The rush of blood was filling his ears, drowning out any other sounds. Wordless screams raking his throat as he clawed his way across the decaying bark and pine needles, dragging his body towards the spot where Massu lay dead, Subaru crouching over him, delicately brushing the hair back from his face and wiping the blood from his mouth. Choking on his own blood and tears, Shige could only stare at Massu’s body as he gained mere inches with each shuddering move.

“Ma- Massu… No. Massu “

Subaru rose from his position looking back at Shige with that same fixed and gentle expression still on his face, moving around Massu to approach Shige.  
“You asshole” Shige sputtered, pulling against the ever increasing weight of his own lower extremities, his limbs locking and shuddering as the nerves ruling their motion steadily lost their control, as he lost all feeling of their presence; icy cold taking their place. “You fucking asshole!!” The oath emerging as little more than a raspy, fluid-filled gasp, the color fading away from his vision as he continued to stare at Massu. If he could only reach Massu… Just maybe…  
  
Subaru’s face broke into his view, crouching down in front of him. Wide, doll-like eyes smiling at him as he reached one finger to his lips, the other hand down to Shige’s, covering them with the first two fingers as though bestowing a blessing.  
“Shhhhh” He softly spoke as Shige lay on the forest floor choking out his last breath, the fading image of Massu’s blood-spattered yellow hoodie just outside of his reach the last thing that he saw before everything disappeared into nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sudden jolt in the heavy darkness blanketing Shige was a shock to say the least, the persistently nagging voice of Tegoshi just as disconcerting.

“Shige! Time to get up, lets go! Massu, you too!”

“Geeze you two, snap out of it.” Ryo’s gruff voice cut through into the haze as well.

“Are you coming down with something? You’ve both been like zombies the past few days.”

Shige blinked a couple of times, trying to process everything in his jumbled state. Standing up in what to him felt like a detached motion, he stretched a little, the pulling on his muscles seeming to tug himself back into his body. Taking in his surroundings he registered a faint feeling of déjà vu, as once again the members of NEWS and Kanjani8 were mingling in the Jimusho locker room. He turned to face the chair next to him, locking eyes with an equally confused looking Massu who was at that moment rubbing his hands cautiously over his neck, eyes asking Shige the same questions he himself was dying to ask.

“Mmm? What’s the matter Massuda? Is your neck stiff?” Yasu asked in a voice swimming with concern. “You know Shibuyan’s really good at neck massages, if it is bothering you.”

Baru knowingly smirked from the corner, calm eyes meeting Shige’s panicked glare as he whipped his head around to locate the Kanjani vocalist. Shige felt as though every drop of blood in his body was draining out of his feet into the ground, the hair on the his arms and neck standing as he stared back at Subaru.

“Oi, Shige! Come on! You’re gonna make us late.” Ryo grabbed his shoulder, pulling him along on his way out the door, breaking their eye contact and snapping Shige back into awareness of the rest of the room. “Jesus, if you fucking get me sick I swear to God I’m gonna kick your fucking ass.”

They moved down the hall, Massu a few steps ahead of Shige, both occasionally glancing back towards the room, unable to shake the feeling that Subaru’s eyes were still burning into them. Up ahead Tegoshi and Koyama were chatting as they moved out of the building into the parking garage, Yamapi already waiting in the van. As they all settled into their seats Tegoshi looked around, expanding the conversation beyond just him and Koyama.

“Hey – has anybody heard form Uchi lately?” 


End file.
